Syrian refugees in Lebanon hit million mark

BEIRUT: A teenager from central Syria became the one millionth Syrian refugee to register in Lebanon on Thursday, a “devastating milestone” for the tiny Arab country with about 4.5 million people of its own, the UN refugee agency said.
Signing up for aid, 19-year-old Yahya recounted his long ordeal. After being trapped by the fighting for more than two years in his native city of Homs, he was evacuated earlier this year and traveled to Yabroud, a fighter held town near the Lebanese border that soon came under a crushing government offensive.
When staying there was no longer an option, he crossed into Lebanon with his mother and two sisters on March 8. Yahya’s father was not with them — he died from sniper fire in Homs in September 2011.
On Thursday, Yahya registered at the UNHCR center in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.
“We didn’t know where to go. We just wanted to get away from all the shelling and fighting,” he said, giving only his first name for fear that his relatives back in Syria would be targeted.
The conflict in Syria, a country with a pre-war population of 23 million, has killed more than 150,000 people, according to the Britian-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which documents the fighting through a network of activists on the ground.

Fighting rages in Syria’s Latakia

Battles raged Thursday over key flash points in Syria’s Latakia province, a monitoring group said, nearly two weeks into a fighter offensive against the heartland of Bashar Assad’s clan and his Alawite sect.
Fighting was especially fierce over a strategic hilltop known as Observatory 45, overrun by fighters last week, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“Since last night, the fighting has been focused on Observatory 45. The army advances and takes over, then the fighters advance and push them back out,” said its director Rami Abdel Rahman.
Supporting the army and militia on the ground, the air force launched several strikes on the hill, the Britain-based monitor said.
Jets also struck fighter-held areas in the nearby Jabal Akrad area, a hill district under militants’ control.